Looking to change electricity, gas or water suppliers? Find out which household names came top in this year's awards
Unhappy with your energy or mobile phone provider and don’t know where to turn? Can’t decide between Netflix or Amazon Prime? Or perhaps your supermarket seems pricey? Then read up on the household names that came top in this year’s awards
Deciding which home service provider to choose can be tough. With a myriad of deals and offers available, it is often hard to pick apart which product offers best value.
That is why each year Moneywise asks you, the readers, to tell us about the top home services providers in the country.
The Home Finances Awards are designed to help you to decide on a whole range of household services, from broadband and mobiles to energy suppliers and supermarkets.
This year, with a phenomenal 10,000 respondents to our survey, there are some clear winners that deserve a pat on the back.
A big thank you to all those who voted – here are the firms that you picked as the best providers in the UK in 2018.
- To view the full list of categories see the Home Finances Awards page
Best gas, electricity and water firms
Gas and electricity
Households have had a particularly rough time in 2018 as far as energy bills go. Rocketing wholesale prices have caused inflation-stomping price hikes from nearly every energy provider.
Levels of switching between suppliers also remain low, which doesn’t do anything to help healthy competition in the marketplace.
An experiment carried out by energy regulator Ofgem, in which households were encouraged to switch provider on to a cheaper deal, found that only one in five switched companies after being reminded.
Such intransigence has prompted government action, with the announcement of a price cap on the more expensive standard variable tariffs (SVTs). Ofgem says millions of households will save up to £120 a year as a result.
The runaway 2018 winner in such an environment is Utility Warehouse, which won every category it entered. And for good reason.
Utility Warehouse makes very specific guarantees to its customers. It promises it will never charge more than the cheapest SVT offered by the Big Six energy providers. Furthermore, if these providers lower their prices, Utility Warehouse will do so too.
The provider also offers a Double Gold Fixed tariff through its Discount Club, which it says guarantees no price rises until 31 August 2020.
Survey-takers rated Utility Warehouse highly across the board, from value for money to customer service and smart-meter quality.
Our winner for the best of the Big Six goes to E.ON, which narrowly edged out the runner-up (and last year’s winner), EDF Energy.
However, it is something of a ‘best of a bad bunch’. E.ON rated 3.7 out of five, far lower than Utility Warehouse, which received top marks.
Water
Consumers are in an unfortunate position when it comes to water providers in that there is no choice or market competition. Where you live dictates which company provides the H2O in your taps.
However, there have been some interesting changes this year in the provision of water for households. At the beginning of September, the industry laid out plans to the regulator, Ofwat, for its ideas to improve services for consumers constrained by geography.
Through a programme of investment and innovations, this year’s winner, Yorkshire Water, plans to find £800 million of efficiency savings. But it has not committed to decreasing customers' bills. Average bills will rise to £393 a year by 2025.
Anglian Water was highly commended in this category.
- To view the full list of categories see the Home Finances Awards page
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